A prudent person foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and suffer -- Proverbs 22:3

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

The Reality Divide

The most disturbing division in this country is not black and white, blue and red, or even, as I often assert, urban and rural. It is reality versus unreality. Reality is not what I think or what I feel.

We all know about Bruce Jenner, the former Olympic Decathlon winner, who is part of a "reality" television show. His most recent picture on the cover of a magazine is both sad and revolting. I feel sorry for a man whose view of reality has become so skewed and warped. I am revolted by the demand that I "applaud his courage". Are we also supposed to applaud the actions of another reality star, Josh Duggar, who molested his younger sisters when he was fourteen? I'm not hearing many calls for that. Given that Duggar himself could be considered a child at the time, one would normally not hold him to the same standards as an adult in terms of judgment. Bruce Jenner is around 66 years old. I think we have to question both his judgment and his sanity.

Of course, if I had been paying any attention, I would have already questioned his sanity for marrying into the Kardashian family.

Bruce Jenner is not "Caitlyn" -- I don't care that his Wikipedia has been changed. He is not a woman, and he never will be. This is what I mean by a reality divide. Some people seem to think you can change something by calling it something different. You can call your Rottweiler "Fluffy", but he can't climb trees.

Now we have the Trans-abled, which is to say that there are crazy people who want to mutilate and cripple themselves. We can call them trans-abled, but crazy works just as well for me. There is something wrong with people who cut their arms off because they "feel" as though the limb should not be there. There is something wrong with a man who "feels" like he's a woman, or a woman who "feels" she is a man despite her genetic and physical endowment.

If I say I "feel" like I want to kill myself, most sane people will suggest that I seek counseling and perhaps medication. People who "feel" depressed are not told that they are heroic. They are offered help to deal with their problem until they return to a better, more normal state of mind.

I'm not suggesting that we persecute or prosecute people for feeling weird or acting weird so long as they do harm to no one else. I am suggesting that it might be a good idea to stop lying to them, to tell them the truth, to refuse to agree to their twisted view of reality.

Sometimes young children will don superhero costumes and get the idea that this gives them the power of flight or invincibility. As adults, we do our best to help them understand the difference between fantasy and reality. I'm all for encouraging children to exercise their imaginations. When I was growing up, some of my best friends were imaginary. However, normal, sane, healthy people learn to distinguish between the imaginary and the real, between our fantasies of how things might be and how things really are, between daydreams and rational, reality-based hopes and plans.

Calling Islam "the religion of peace" does not end the conflict in the Middle East. Saying that the Islamic State is not Islamic doesn't turn them into Methodists. The problem is everywhere.

We can no longer come to an agreement on some of the most obvious and basic issues because those of us on the side of reality are not allowed to state the obvious lest we offend, "trigger", or "micro-aggress" the deluded.

Wealth and prosperity and technology have been allowing a lot of us to get by without facing up to the truth. Truth will triumph. Reality will get its due. Too many of us refuse steadfastly to put aside our lies and delusions; therefore, these illusions will be forcibly stripped away -- perhaps by war, by oppression, by famine, by financial collapse, the collapse of society in general, or something else. It will happen because that is the nature of reality.

Part of the Fall, yep. Human nature is no worse, but when it's the worst we've ever seen, it's pretty convincing. There's always been a lot of sleaze and weirdness. I certainly hope, though, we are at or near the bottom of a cycle as far as promotion and celebration of deviancy and decadence.

Well said, Mush. It's not heroic to be pc or to live a life of illusion. Real heroes risk their lives, get hurt or die protecting peoples lives and liberties. Like you, I don't think we should ever persecute gays, or crossdressers, but it's not helpful to call them heroes because they aren't. Same for adulterers, alcoholics, drug addicts or anyone else who sins.

And for those who think Jenner is saving lives because he chooses to have bigger breasts, that is also a lie.

Quotables

The true Christian should not resign himself to the inevitable: he should trust in the impertinence of a repeated prayer. -- Don Colacho

Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort. -- Robert A. Heinlein

When law and morality are in contradiction, the citizen finds himself in the cruel dilemma of either losing his moral sense or of losing respect for the law -- Bastiat

The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy.

If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military. The hired servants of our rulers.

Only the government -- and a few outlaws.

I intend to be among the outlaws.--Edward Abbey from “The Right to Arms”

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